Promoting your Blog

Starting a  a new blog.

1. First, figure out who your target audience is. Who are you trying to help with your blog? Who do you want to attract? It’s good to have a clear picture of exactly who these people are — working parents who have a busy schedule, tight budget, and not enough time for romance? College students not getting enough sleep and on an even tighter budget? Even if you’re going for a pretty broad appeal, it’s still good to get a general idea of who your audience is.

2. Next, figure out what desires you’re going to be tapping into. Every reader goes to a blog for a reason — some desire they have that the blog will potentially fulfill. Maybe the reader is looking for peace and happiness, or physical fitness, or success with the opposite sex, or personal growth. Figure out what desires you’re going to help fulfill — and remember to stay in line with what you’re passionate about, what you really want to write about, what you know and have to offer.

3. Then figure out what message you’re going to send to them that will tap into specific desires. This is key: every blog sends an unstated message to the reader. Some, with their loud designs and even louder headlines, scream, “I’m trying to sell you something!” Others are a bit meeker, and quietly say, “I’m just a nice person who likes cats.” What will your blog say to readers? What do you want it to say? Craft a message that fits with your personality, that matches what you want to convey to the world, and that also taps into the desires you plan to fulfill (from the previous step above).

4. You need to be consistent about your message in everything you do. Once you’ve carefully crafted your core message, you need to align everything you do with this message. If you do things that conflict with the message, you will be sending confusing signals. Instead, be consistent in everything: keep the same message in all your posts, headlines, comments, blog design, guest posts on other blogs, comments on other blogs, and so forth. The more consistent you are, the better.

5. Finally, you need to repeat your message as much as possible to your target audience. A great brand with a great message is worth nothing if the target audience never hears about it. Consider the great brands in consumer products, such as Pepsi or Coke or Apple or Google … these guys do constant advertising, on TV, in billboards and the sides of buses, all over the place. The more the better. And even if people have already seen the brand (and heard the message) once or twice, it might not have stuck with them the first couple of times … but after the fifth or seventh time, maybe it hit home. With Zen Habits, I was everywhere my target audience was the first six months … I was freelancing for five different blogs, writing a couple of guest posts a week, answering interviews as often as possible, and was often seen in social media and in link posts on other blogs. And in every one of these appearances where my target audience might have seen my brand, I repeated the same message (not verbally — the message was unstated but still clear). I was as consistent as I could be, and as a result, many people who I wanted to attract were exposed to my brand and message more than once. They might have forgotten about me the first time they heard the message, but after a few times, it stuck with them.